Make, model, and year of this 1930s car?

My dad recently passed away and I found this great photo of him standing in front of my grandfather's car. I'd love to be able to date the photo and figure out my dad's approximate age. He was born in 1926. Can anyone identify the make, model, and year of the car? Any and all help is appreciated!

Cadillac about 1931, I think.

great photo , thanks for sharing

1931 Cadillac V-8 Town Sedan.

Sort of rare for a Cadillac of that year to have a rear spare.

Besides being well-healed, he was well-prepared!

Garage rent $3 or $13 a month? Those were the days!

Sort of rare for a Cadillac of that year to have a rear spare.

Besides being well-healed, he was well-prepared!

The car to ID is a 1931 Cadillac V-8 and not a V-12. The Cadillac V-12 has a courtesy light on the running board splash apron as well as a decorative molding. I believe that two spare wheels / tires were optional on the V-8 model and standard equipment on the V-12 model. The same body was available on the V-12 chassis, as shown in the factory photo.

Thanks, everyone, for the great information. I don't mean to preclude additional comments, but unless I'm informed otherwise I'll assume that my grandfather's car was a 1931 Cadillac V-8 Town Car.

I'm not sure about the garage rental. The picture was taken in Bridgeport, Conn., probably in 1933 or 1934 when my dad was seven or eight. When I first looked at the photo, I thought that the sign advertised garage space at "$3.00 month." But now I can see why people might read it as "13.00 month." I'm thinking that $3 would be a more realistic price for the Great Depression. This was the era of 10-cent movies. Also, my dad frequently told me a story about how, as a kid, he accepted five cents from an out-of-work man to stand for him in a bread line. The man was too ashamed to do so himself. In the first version of the story, my grandfather beat the snot out of my dad because he took advantage of the unemployed man's situation. In the second version (to me more believable), my grandfather knocked the snot out of my dad because he feared people would believe their own family was relying on charity. Those were the days.

My grandfather actually did quite well during the Depression and World War II. He had been a union organizer and by the 1930s was basically a Democratic machine politician. He had government jobs through the National Recovery Administration (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Recovery_Administration) and the National Labor Relations Board (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Labor_Relations_Board). In 1941 he unsuccessfully ran against Bridgeport's long-serving (1933-57) Socialist mayor Jasper McLevy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_McLevy).

Bridgeport boomed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There were lots of nice houses and apartment buildings packed onto small lots with little room for garages, which of course weren't needed before cars. Many people could walk to work and the necessary stores, plus there were street cars and, later, a good network of buses. My dad even told me about remembering fruit carts and other wagons being pulled by horses in the late 1920s and 1930s.

The availability of cars probably hastened Bridgeport's steep decline after World War II. As new people moved in and brought new problems, middle-class people like my parents and grandparents moved to suburbs made more accessible by the automobile.

Thanks again to everyone for the information. It is difficult to lose a parent but nice to learn more about the world in which he lived as a kid. This is a great forum!

My dad recently passed away and I found this great photo of him standing in front of my grandfather's car.

Very sorry for your loss.

LOVE old family photographs like this ... thank you for sharing it here!

Cort www.oldcarsstronghearts.com

1979 & 1989 Caprice Classics | pigValve, paceMaker, cowValve

"My time here is over" __ Patty Loveless __ 'How Can I Help You Say Goodbye?'

Thanks, everyone, for the great information. I don't mean to preclude additional comments, but unless I'm informed otherwise I'll assume that my grandfather's car was a 1931 Cadillac V-8 Town Car.

Nooo. Not a Town Car... a Town Sedan. BIG difference.

Fun picture! He's not quite ready for long pants yet, but filled with sufficient confidence to soon make transition comfortably.